Open Primaries

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

And what about those Texas caucuses???

...Despite the finger pointing by both campaigns, the chaos with the caucuses didn't seem to favor one side or the other -- they were just a mess. At Wetmore Elementary School in a suburban section of northeastern San Antonio, the electoral process had simply fallen apart, swamped by turnout that Democratic Party officials should have been able to anticipate but apparently didn't. A line of voters waiting to cast ballots stretched out the door and around the corner of the school. Four precincts use the school as a polling place, but it looked like 400 precincts' worth were still there when the polls closed. Another few hundred people who had already voted were standing up against the wall waiting for the caucuses to start -- three hours behind schedule, because all the primary voters had to finish first.... (Salon)The A.P. said that 170 delegates from Tuesday’s contests have yet to be assigned, many from the Texas caucuses.... (New York Times)

Unprecedented turnout at caucuses across Houston and Harris County left hundreds of frustrated voters waiting in the cold until almost midnight outside at least one polling place in West Houston on Tuesday.... (Houston Chronicle)

By 9:15, the caucus results were known in Precinct 34. Obama, who trailed Clinton in the day's voting there, won the local delegate count. He will send 24 delegates to the senatorial convention, Clinton 16. "I don't know how much difference this makes in the long run, but it makes a lot of difference to me," said 31-year-old Megan House, who was hoping to be chosen a delegate for the next stage of the process. "You've got to make a stand somewhere. People are understanding that democracy is controlled by those who show up." (Houston Chronicle)